


hold me like we're going home

by independentwriter137



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dorks in Love, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Mutual Pining, chapter 3 takes place after the fall of sybil, chapter one is post-season 1, chapter two is post-Psycho-Pass: First Inspector, they're just very soft with each other okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/independentwriter137/pseuds/independentwriter137
Summary: "Shinya holds her face as if she’s something precious. She reaches up shaky fingers to his shoulders as if he’s something that could disappear."In which Akane is released from the correction center only to find that home isn't a place, but a person.
Relationships: Kougami Shinya/Tsunemori Akane
Comments: 38
Kudos: 143





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> LISTEN, I did not mean to start a new work, though technically speaking this doesn't really count as an ongoing fic, right? *laughs nervously*
> 
> Basically, while finishing up the new chapter for my Pacific Rim AU, I kept getting distracted by the idea for this ficlet, so here we are. Title is from "Heaven Knows: by Five for Fighting. Hope you enjoy!!

There was something about seeing someone’s entire life reduced to a few neatly packed boxes that left Akane deeply disconcerted, especially when that someone is Kougami Shinya.

How strange, she thought, for someone who left her at such a loss in their early days, who seemed to refuse any pattern, any static perception of him, any form of restraint, to be filed away so easily in a box now.

How can something so simple hold what’s left of someone so complex?

 _There wasn’t much left to begin with either,_ Akane reminded herself.

Kougami couldn’t bring much with him, but he didn’t own much either. His quarters at the MWPSB always struck her as being oddly impersonal—bare walls and standard issue furniture, possessions that were mostly functional and easily replaceable, a place to stay instead of a place to live. It was a stark contrast to the warm lived-in space that Kagari created, full of games and stuffed toys and enough candy to rot anyone’s teeth—a real home carved out of the MWPSB building’s sterile walls.

 _That’s because Kagari-kun never had any intention of leaving,_ she told herself. _It’s like Kougami-san said, Kagari-kun weighed his options a long time ago and chose the Enforcer life_.

Perhaps that was where Kagari and Kougami differed—Kougami had always known he wasn’t going to stay. Perhaps it was naïve to think she could’ve changed that. Perhaps it was even more naïve to trace her fingers over the cracked spines of the books he left behind and hope that things could _still_ change.

The older novels had been browsed through so often that they were falling apart. Flecks of paint stuck to her fingers when she pulled her hand away, dotting her skin like a tiny constellation that gave her the strange urge to make a wish.

With no one around to make her feel silly, Akane wished they could meet again someday, not as an Inspector and an Enforcer, but as ordinary people. Her grandmother had always taught her that wishes were promises you worked to make happen, and so, without a second thought, Akane gripped the sides of the box with the intent to bring them home, the promise of _someday_ burning bright in her mind.

Besides, Akane knew he wouldn’t mind if she browsed through his collection in the meantime. And by the time someday rolled around, perhaps she could tell him which one was her favorite.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all this was supposed to be a drabble but the word count got away from me. This has now become a very uneven two-shot, but at least I generally like how this turned out! Plus I was able to upload chapter 2 of "all the stars above our heads" a couple of days ago, so yay productivity!
> 
> This chapter takes place after their (canon!) date at the end of PP: First Inspector. Basically 1,406 words of fluff with a very slight sprinkling of angst because I can't do a completely angst-free ShinKane work, apparently.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

It’s strange, Akane thinks, that home is finally nothing more than a twist of a doorknob and a step away, yet she can’t quite make herself move.

This isn’t at all what she imagined coming home would feel like.

Coming home was supposed to be surprising, the kind of hope-affirming surprise that comes from seeing something you half-believed you’d never see again. Coming home was supposed to fill her with the paranoid fear that this is a trick, a dream, a hallucination because it has been a long time since society has been this kind. Coming home was supposed to feel like overwhelming, soul-consuming relief once she realizes this is real, that she needs only to reach out and take back what she’s lost.

She supposes she wasn’t entirely wrong. She did feel all those things when she was finally released from the correction center—just not for the house that featured so often in her daydreams.

Instead, Akane felt that surprise, that fear, that relief the moment she saw who was waiting for her outside the correction center.

On second thought, maybe the only thing she was wrong about was her image of what—or, rather, _who_ —home is.

It’s no coincidence that the smell of cigarette smoke clings to the walls of every place she’s lived in since he left.

She’s still pleasantly warm from the bowls of udon and lively conversation Kougami treated her to, and she already knows that the novelty of them being able to eat out together and laugh together and just _be_ together will never fade. Everything from today seems like it’s come straight out of a dream—from the way they could almost count as ordinary people just as she wished and promised to him all those years ago to the way the world seems almost softer around the edges, awash in fresh daylight.

And now, standing on her porch, all she feels is dread at the thought of ending it all by closing the door behind her.

“Inspector?” Kougami says behind her, sensing her reluctance.

“I told you not to call me that,” she admonishes, though she’s grateful for the excuse to turn towards him and away from the door. “And besides, I’m not an Inspector anymore.”

“Force of habit,” he shrugs. “And Statutory Enforcer doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

“You could call me by my name.”

“Tsunemori?”

“Akane.”

It shouldn’t be a big deal, really, to offer the use of her first name considering how long they’ve known each other, but Akane knows it’s a step into territory they’ve never dared to breach before—at least of their own volition. She still remembers clinging to the back of a truck, desperation tearing the syllables of her first name out of his throat as Makishima drove away.

There’s no truck this time, no gun, or Makishima or threat of death, but her heart pounds just as hard as she waits for Kougami’s answer. His face has gone carefully blank as he searches for any sign that she’ll take the offer back, as if he of all people needs permission to use her first name.

“Ordinary people don’t call each other by their titles,” she reminds him.

A faint smile touches his features, and she knows he remembers her promise. “Alright then,” he says quietly. “Everything okay, Akane?”

She smiles, and perhaps it’s because she feels so impossibly light that her thoughts have no anchor and pass through her lips easily. “Better now. Would you like to come inside, Kougami-san?”

“Shinya,” he corrects softly.

“Shinya,” she repeats like a long-kept secret that’s been waiting to be spoken, liking the way the syllables roll off her tongue. “Would you like to come inside, Shinya?”

“Lead the way, Akane,” he says, smile widening, and she knows he’s not ready to leave her yet either.

Her house is bigger than she remembers, especially compared to the cell she’s been trapped in. It’s a little overwhelming at first, and she’s grateful for Kougami’s— _Shinya’s_ —steadying presence behind her. After they take off their shoes, Akane leaves him in the living room to go get something to drink.

Her kitchen has never been well-stocked considering she spends most of her time at work and her cooking skills are abysmal at best, but she has lemonade mix and the label says it hasn’t expired yet. She makes a pitcher and pours two glasses.

When she returns to the living room, she finds Shinya standing in front of her bookcase, trailing a hand along the spines of the novels he left behind.

“You kept them,” he says, knowing she’s there without having to turn around.

She places the glasses on the coffee table and goes to stand beside him. She watches as his eyes linger on the stuffed toys and action figures that decorate the shelf in between the books, undoubtedly recognizing the winged pink alien, the bright blue chameleon, and the dark red gaming console.

“Keepsakes for the ones you lost,” he observes.

“Some of them, yes,” she says, Kagari’s death still a wound that will never quite heal. “But the books…the books I kept because I knew that someday I’d get to return them to you.”

He’s quiet for a while, eyes still trained on the books though it’s impossible for him not to have heard her. She doesn’t take offense at his silence, content to enjoy his company as he sifts through his thoughts. She’s not even sure what she’d say if she was in his place. The words _thank you_ or _you didn’t have to_ seem too small somehow.

“It’s someday,” he says eventually, turning towards her.

She hears everything he doesn’t say, _I missed you. I’m sorry. I’m here now._

Tilting her head to the side, she teases. “Well I didn’t think you’d want them back right this instant. I was hoping to finish them all first.”

He huffs a laugh and shakes his head. “I guess I’d be willing to give you an extension on your loan,” he says.

“How kind of you.”

“Only for you, Akane.”

And for a moment, they do nothing but smile at each other.

“So which one’s your favorite?” he asks.

Her smile grows wider, anticipating the question. “Shakespeare’s comedies,” she says. “I didn’t enjoy his tragedies as much.”

“Most people would say his tragedies are the true masterpieces,” he says, not dismissive but genuinely interested in her thoughts.

“And I can see why, but I’m partial to happy endings.”

“You don’t think they’re unrealistic?”

“Not unrealistic per se, but hard to imagine sometimes. Often even harder to achieve. But if we stop believing happy endings are possible, then there _is_ no other option other than tragedy. And I refuse to accept that, even if it is naïve,” she says.

Shinya’s staring at her as though he’s never seen her before, a curious smile on his face. She almost starts to fidget under his gaze, but she’s not a flustered rookie anymore. “What?” she asks defensively.

He shakes his head fondly. “You really are something else.”

“Are you saying you don’t believe in happy endings?”

“I believe in _you_.”

“Oh,” she says, dazed from his words and sudden proximity. They’re much closer than they were initially, and she’s not sure when that happened, but she’s not complaining either. Like this, she can see just how blue his eyes are.

“Shinya—” she starts to say, but his name is the last nudge he needs to close the gap between them.

It’s gentle, more like a brush of butterfly wings than a bruise. Soft, more of a whisper of reassurance than a fit of passion. She supposes she should’ve been surprised, but they’ve been dancing around _this_ for so long that it feels like the most natural thing in the world.

She steps even closer to him. The press of her lips against his is firmer this time and she is so, so warm. Shinya holds her face as if she’s something precious. She reaches up shaky fingers to his shoulders as if he’s something that could disappear.

When they pull away to breathe, he leans his forehead against hers, unguardedly happy for once.

“I’m glad you’re back, Akane,” he says.

“Me too,” she says. She leans in again, just close enough for her lips to graze his as she speaks, and her grin turns mischievous. “Welcome me home, Shinya.”

And he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3 ShinKane fics at the moment and I've FINALLY been able to write a scene where these two dorks kiss. 
> 
> I'm also doing a quick interest check here too for a potential new fic! I was wondering how interested y'all would be in a fairy tale-ish AU? I just binged Galavant (an EXCELLENT TV show I highly recommend!) and I've been plagued with the idea of Kougami as a once legendary hero who's now a washed-up, fallen from grace knight and Akane as the badass rogue princess who enlists his help for a quest. Probably would be a one-shot instead of a multi-chap if ever and definitely wouldn't follow Galavant's actual plot aside from the premise. Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> Anyways, comments are very much appreciated! Thanks for all the support <3 You can also find me on tumblr as indy-mickey


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the dust settles, they settle together. Takes place after the fall of Sybil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never intended for this to have a part 3, but here we are. The idea came while I was writing the second chapter of my ShinKane fairy tale AU and resurged with a vengeance as I was writing my ShinKane coffee shop AU. Couldn't continue with the coffee shop au til I got this out. Closely related to the ShinKane headcanon I posted on tumblr a while back.

Akane slips into consciousness with the feeling that she’s being watched. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling—years and years of being closely monitored by Sybil has left her deeply intimate with the cold grip of paranoia.

This is different though.

Surrounded by the faint smell of cigarette smoke and with gentle fingertips drawing light circles on her hip, Akane has never felt safer. 

Shinya has always had that effect on her, she supposes, even back when she had no idea what that effect meant exactly.

She burrows deeper into his embrace, relishing how solid and warm and real he feels against her. She’s not quite ready to open her eyes yet, likes dwelling in that sweet spot between sleepiness and wakefulness. Sleeping in has never been in her nature, but she has nowhere she needs to be and there isn’t anywhere she’d rather be. Shinya’s grip around her waist tightens.

”Why are you watching me?” she murmurs into his collarbone, voice heavy with sleep.

His chest vibrates with soft laughter. “Are you saying I’m not allowed to watch you?” he teases.

“You can, but that still doesn’t answer why.”

Shinya pulls back and Akane almost whines at the loss of contact before she feels him smoothing the hair away from her face and dropping a kiss to her forehead.

She sighs in contentment, then finally cracks her eyes open to find Shinya still staring at her, eyes soft and lips curled in a gentle smile, unguarded in a way he only ever lets himself be around her.

“I like looking at you,” he says bluntly, though she doesn’t miss the faint pink dusting his cheeks. “It makes me happy.  _You _ make me happy.”

Her cheeks burn and she hides her face in his chest as he chuckles at her reaction. “Kougami-san,” she whines, falling back on old habits. “You can’t just say stuff like that first thing in the morning.”

“I can say whatever I want,” he says. She doesn’t have to look at him to know he’s smirking. “It’s a free country after all.”

And it  _ is_. After years and years of blood and sweat and tears, Sybil’s iron fist is gone. Japan is buzzing with new hope, hands trembling with the weight of newfound freedom, taking hesitant steps towards a tomorrow they  choose.

There’s still work to be done, and Akane, Kougami, and their teams will be there every step of the way. But for now, as the dust settles, they settle together.

Kougami eventually coaxes her out of hiding, his expression slightly more serious than before as he smooths his thumbs over her reddened cheeks.

“I never thought we’d get this," he admits quietly. "The ordinary. The simple. The small things seemed like too much to hope for."

She wants to tell him that she knows exactly what he means, but then the crease in his brow deepens, and Akane knows there are more thoughts floating around in his mind that he has yet to voice. He's gotten better at communicating, but sometimes he needs a little time. She says nothing and patiently waits for him to tell her at his own pace. 

“When I was wandering, sometimes I’d find some of those lemonade candies you like so much and I would horde them,” he says eventually. “They’d help me think because then I’d think of you. Sometimes I’d see you, and you were just a figment of my imagination. Thing is, when you were there, I didn’t feel so lost.” His thumbs still against her cheeks and the quirk of his lips turn wry. “Guess I’m afraid if I look away, all this will be my imagination too.”

She leans forward then, pressing her lips against his to kiss him long and slow, pulling him out of his own head and anchoring him in the present. He cups her jaw and she curls her fingers into his hair, and her senses are filled with him.

When she pulls back, she leans her forehead against his and they breathe in each other’s presence. She places her hand above his heart.

“You make me happy too, Shinya.”

His smile is wider than she's ever seen. Happiness suits him, she thinks, and she'd do anything to keep him this way.

“And for the record," she continues, "it was the same for me. When you were gone, I mean. I lit cigarettes to remind me of you like a very carcinogenic candle.”

His eyes take on a teasing glint, his smile turning lopsided with playfulness. "Oh, I know."

Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "What do you _mean_ you know?"

"You carried around Spinels and you always smelled like them, but when I offered you one, you said you didn't smoke. Give a detective some credit, Akane," he teases, lightly tapping her nose. 

She swats his hand away and pouts. "I hate you," she grumbles.

"No, you don't," he says confidently. "You love me."

She hums, unable to disagree and not really wanting to."I do," she says, "and I'm happy we're both here now."

Her stomach growls loudly then, surprising them both. Akane groans in embarrassment."I would be even happier with food though," she says.

Shinya steals one more kiss before rolling on his side and getting out of bed. "You can shower while I make breakfast," he says.

"Pancakes?" she asks hopefully.

He laughs, shaking his head fondly. "Yes, ma'am."

She lingers to watch as he pulls on a shirt before getting out of bed herself. Stretching her arms over her head, she distantly hears his phone ping as her back cracks.

"Hey, you wanna head to the park later?" Shinya asks as she pads over to the bathroom.

"I'd love to!" she says over her shoulder.

She takes in Shinya's wild hair and electric blue eyes, the curve of his lips and the ease of his stance. _This,_ she thinks, is home.

* * *

_Bonus:_

From: Mama

To: Kougami Shinya

_Have you asked her yet?_

To: Mama

From: Kougami Shinya

_Not yet. I'm taking her somewhere later. I'll ask her then._

From: Mama 

To: Kougami Shinya

_Aw, are you going to take her where you two first met?_

To: Mama

From: Kougami Shinya

_Trust me, Mama. You don't want me to take her there. We're going to the park._

To: Kougami Shinya

From: Mama

_That sounds lovely, sweetheart. Akane-chan will love it. I'm proud of you._

To: Mama

From Kougami Shinya

_Thanks, Mama. Wish me luck._

To: Kougami Shinya

From: Mama

_You won't need it ;)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Domestic!ShinKane soothes my soul right now. Hope you liked it too!
> 
> I might expand with more drabbles in this 'verse if there's enough interest in it. Let me know!
> 
> You can also find me on tumblr as indy-mickey where I talk about fandom stuff and potential fics. Feel free to chat <3
> 
> Stay safe and thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! Finally did something completely canon compliant!! 
> 
> I have an idea for a follow-up drabble to this one, if anyone's interested. Most likely post PP:FI, I think? We'll see?
> 
> Anyways, comments are very much appreciated as always! You can also find me on tumblr now as indy-mickey
> 
> Edit: this is now its own self-contained fic rather than a drabble collection because of how long chapter 2 got. I'll probably post sporadic drabbles under another title or to my tumblr account.


End file.
